Hong Kong – Thursday, 28 January 2016 – CLSA Limited (CLSA), Asia’s leading brokerage and investment group, today launches its 22nd CLSA Feng Shui Index (FSI) – the popular tongue-in-cheek financial forecast for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index.
The report forecasts our top sector picks for the Year of the Monkey and includes CLSA’s Hong Kong property guide, as well as predictions for the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. Be forewarned, CLSA’s Feng Shui forecast is pure monkey-business, to be taken with a grain of salt, or a cool banana mocktail. Remember, it’s a jungle out there and nothing is entirely predictable!
While man loves the monkey for its endearing human-like qualities it can also be unpopular for its roguish trickery. In our FSI guide we reference the character Sun Wukong, or Monkey King, from the Ming Dynasty novelJourney to the West, who was at first punished for his mischief-making and then entrusted by the Buddha to retrieve valuable scriptures for the good of humanity.
Like the monkey helps the monk in the famous fable, the furry primate is here to help our treasured Earth Rooster, the Hang Seng Index, especially in the first half. We predict a decent start for the Rooster, with some fast monkey manoeuvers until the chimp takes a downward swing mid-year, followed by a recovery.
Metals and water-related industries will strengthen in the first half of the Fire Monkey year. Not only silver and gold, but autos, financials, gaming, transport and machinery sectors all prosper. However, after a reasonable start, things turn upside down for Oil and Gas, Utilities, Technology, Telecoms and Internet as the Monkey runs amok in the final quarter. For the Property sector, we expect clearer skies out at Chek Lap Kok and we give both East and West our banana (great) rating.
It will be a good year for people born in Ox and Snake years. For those born in the Fire Monkey year, like Taiwan’s new President Tsai Ing-wen, the stars favour work, travel and finance. It will be a mongrel year for Fire Dogs, such as Donald Trump, who should watch his cash outflow and beware of the “golden-tongued” Hilary, who was born in the year of the Fire Pig, and thus a good pal of the Monkey.
In the 60-year Stems and Branches, this is a year to set things up for a stronger future. That’s good news for China as it sets about shoring up its “One Belt, One Road” strategy with wealth and security two guiding motives for the country’s modern Journey to the West. Overall, it’s a year for slow, considered expansion, not for raucous monkey antics.